Emerald Dream
The Emerald Dream (also known as the Dream of Creation, Green Dream or simply the Dream) is an ethereal, vast, ever-changing world of spirits and untamed nature, that exists outside the boundaries of the physical world, and is the verdant realm of the Dragon Aspect Ysera. As the Emerald Dream is a realm of life, its mirror representing death is the Shadowlands. The Emerald Dream is basically how the world would have been, if intelligent beings had not altered Azeroth's surface. =Nature of the Dream= ---- The Emerald Dream is a vast and ever-shifting dimension of spirits and nature magic that defies mortal perceptions of reality. Time and distance hold no meaning in this intangible realm, and a day on the physical world and feel like decades in the Dream. The Dream's Purpose The Dream is under the protection of the green Dragon Aspect, Ysera. After the titans had shaped Azeroth, they sent Ysera into an eternal trance and charged her with watching over all of Azeroth from the Dream. As a result, green dragons guard every portal into the Dream, and they always see both the landscape of Azeroth and the corresponding dreamscape. This enchanted vision, known as dreamsight, allows green dragons to perceive their surroundings with perfect clarity despite the dragons' closed eyes. Unlike Azeroth, the Emerald Dream is a realm that is primarily spiritual instead of physical. All who enter the Dream can affect it to a minor extent, but only temporarily: the underlying structure of the Dream inevitably reasserts itself. Even Ysera cannot change the Dream permanently, nor, indeed, would she wish to do so. She does not control the Dream; on the contrary, it is closer to the truth to say that the Dream controls her. Using the Dream as her unfaltering guide, she regulates the ebb and flow of nature and the evolutionary path of the world itself. Perception of the self inside the Dream The creatures of Azeroth can visit the Emerald Dream either physically or via dreams, as the realm's name indicates. When an individual's spirit visits the Dream, leaving the body behind, that individual will manifest his or her dreamform, which normally looks and behaves much as that individual's physical body might. Hence, for most creatures, moving through the Dream is achieved in the normal fashion, despite the realm's chiefly spiritual character. These rules do not apply to druids of sufficient skill or experience, who are trained to see beyond physical reality. These druids might be capable of abnormal movement in the Dream (e.g., a night elf who can sprint at a greatly accelerated rate, walk through solid objects, or fly). It is quite rare to see such unusual capabilities in non-druids, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility. Characteristics of the Dream The Dream can be affected by all dreamers to a minor and temporary extent. However, no living creature except the titans has ever been able to permanently change the Dream. Ysera herself cannot control or shape the Dream, which has its own ecology and a variety of inhabitants, both sentient and non-sentient. Time is meaningless inside the Dream. As a result, the green dragonflight, which spends the majority of its time in the Dream, is extremely long-lived. Ysera's consorts in particular almost never emerge from the Dream and are effectively immortal, as are all other permanent denizens in the Dream. Because the titans invested a great deal of work in perfecting their design of Azeroth, the Emerald Dream is not one a single perfect vision of what Azeroth would become. The finished design of the planet was the product of many previous flawed or unfinished models. The Dream therefore has multiple layers, one for each of these earlier incarnations. These older layers of the Dream are often incomplete and therefore limited in scope, relative to the finalized Dream. The Emerald Dream was originally described as a "a vast, ever-changing spirit world, existed outside the boundaries of the physical world. From the Dream, Ysera regulated the ebb and flow of nature and the evolutionary path of the world itself." This implies less stagnation than the Emerald Dream described in other sources. The spirits of departed animals on Azeroth travel to the Emerald Dream as their afterlife, with the mighty G'Hanir in particular serving as the home to the spirits of winged creatures. The Wild Gods, having been linked to the Dream by Freya, also come here after dying, as do members of the green dragonflight such as Ysera and the former Dragons of Nightmare. Some druids, such as Elerethe Renferal and Thaon Moonclaw, do as well, though it is unclear if all druids do. Layers The Emerald Dream also has multiple layers, described by Cenarius as different testing versions of Azeroth. These layers were created because the titans invested a great deal of work in perfecting their design of Azeroth, and so, the finished design of the planet was the product of many previous flawed or unfinished models. Each layer represents an abandoned segment or idea that the titans tried and ultimately discarded. Malfurion observed that it looks like neither the mortal plane nor the Emerald Dream. He saw that one mountain peak lacked its northern face, while another peak looked as if someone had started molding it like clay but had lost interest. These older layers were normally uninhabited, invisible, and incomplete, therefore limited in scope, relative to the finalized Dream. But they could be accessed by any who knew how to navigate them. Zones *Eye of Ysera *The Nightmare (mobile) *Daral'nir (the Emerald Dream counterpart of Tal'doren) *Emerald Dreamway *G'Hanir *Rift of Aln: The source of the Nightmare has devoured the pure heart of the Dream. Known portal locations from this endless, dark void include Lake Elune'ara, in the Dream's relfection of Moonglade, the rift circling above Il'gynoth in the Dream's reflection of Un'goro, and a previously inactive portal within the Emerald Dreamway. *Known Dream reflections of Azeroth: **Un'goro **Grizzly Hills **Mulgure **Moonglade: The most sacred place in all the Dream As the Emerald Dream is a reflection of Azeroth, every zone in Azeroth has a mirror within the Dream. Because the Emerald Dream predates the Great Sundering, this also means that the lands lost on Azeroth during that event still exists inside the Dream. =History= ---- Creation Freya, a creation of the benevolent titans, created the Emerald Dream to serve as the underlying blueprint for the planet Azeroth. After the titans had shaped Azeroth, they sent Ysera into an eternal trance and charged her with watching over all of Azeroth from the Dream. As a result, green dragons guard every portal into the Dream, and they always see both the landscape of Azeroth and the corresponding dreamscape. This enchanted vision, known as dreamsight, allows green dragons to perceive their surroundings with perfect clarity despite the dragons' closed eyes. Some believe that Freya wove the Emerald Dream into being from nothing. Others claim that this strange place had always existed in some form, a dream born from Azeroth’s slumbering world-soul. It is said that Freya tapped into this realm and molded what would become known as the Emerald Dream as a way to commune with the nascent titan. Freya began creating the Emerald Dream with G'Hanir, a single massive tree set atop a high peak. From it bloomed many fruits and flowers, and new life flowed outwards in waves, sweeping across the land. Freya sculpted many pools of life in other locations within the Dream, but G'Hanir was the first, the tallest, and the most radiant. For millennia, it served as a source of healing and balance that extended beyond the Dream and into the physical world. Nordrassil During the War of the Ancients, the druid Malfurion Stormrage made use of the Emerald Dream to enter into the palace of Queen Azshara and thwart the plans of Lord Xavius. After the War of the Ancients, three of the Dragon Aspects grew a World Tree, Nordrassil, atop the new Well of Eternity, and Ysera linked Nordrassil to the Emerald Dream. Her action was primarily meant to prevent abuse of the Well and to keep the Well's powers from growing. The tempering energies of the Dream act as a calming influence on the Well's chaotic energies. Secondarily, Nordrassil's connection to the Emerald Dream allowed the druids of Azeroth to travel easily to the Dream. Since that time, all druids have periodically hibernated while their spirits wandered the dreamways. This hibernation is not some sort of physical requirement for druids, though; rather, the hibernation was a communion with the Emerald Dream. The druids were learning more about the natural world through the Dream. There was always something new for the druids to learn, even in the smallest blade of grass. During the Third War, the druids empowered Nordrassil with the night elves' immortality and the energies of countless night elf spirits. Nordrassil then gave off a blast of energy that killed the demon lord Archimonde, ending the war and sealing the Burning Legion's defeat on Azeroth. Although Nordrassil was not killed in the process, the night elves' noble sacrifice left them mortal and cost the druids their easily accessible link to the Emerald Dream. Thus, reaching the Dream has become a significantly more difficult prospect, and fewer druids are able to walk the Dream today. Teldrassil Certain that the night elves' immortality could be restored, Archdruid Fandral Staghelm proposed growing a replacement World Tree, though the dragons showed no sign of offering their assistance in the process. Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage flatly refused; he argued that without the blessing of the dragonflights, the tree would be an abomination. When Malfurion fell into a mysterious coma, Fandral became the new leader of the druids. His first act was to persuade the rest of the Cenarion Circle to grow the World Tree, which they named Teldrassil. Teldrassil is not linked to the Dream or to the Well of Eternity. Contrary to Fandral's hopes, the new World Tree has not restored the night elves' immortality. =Inhabitants= ---- *Animals **Bears **Deer **Moose ***Grove wardens are the wardens of peaceful, primordial groves within the Emerald Dream. However, they were also some of the first to become corrupted by the Nightmare. **Snails **Wolves **Unicorns *Cenarius' children *Druids **Night elves **Tauren **Trolls **Worgen *Faerie dragons *Green dragonflight *Lashers *Wild Gods *Wisps Emerald Nightmare *Felstalkers *Imps *Nightmare dragonflight *N'raqi *Satyrs **Shadow satyrs *Unwaking Category:Places Category:Planes